Richard III

Synopsis

Or by its full first quarto title of The Tragedy of King Richard the Third, containing his trecherous plots against his brother Clarence: the pittiful murder of his innocent nephews: his tyrannical usurpation: with the whole course of his detested life and most deserved death. Of course, nowadays Richard is seen as much maligned but the image of the hunchback reciting "Now is the winter of our discontent" will remain with us for a long time. Essentially the plot sees Richard assuming the throne after Edward IV and disposing of all those with greater right. He is finally killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field after having pronounced that other great line "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" (shouldn't that be "An horse!"?).

Our Review:

Ron Simpson - 25 January 2011

Richard III is one of only two Shakespearean history plays to be designated a tragedy. Propeller’s production never aspires to that, but on its own terms Edward Hall’s intelligent expressionist staging has huge impact. Cynical and coolly cruel, it features excellent verse speaking and superbly effective lighting (Ben Ormerod), sound (David Gregory) and music (Jon Trenchard).

As in the company’s Comedy of Errors, actors not involved in character revert to anonymous figures in a crowd, but this time the often silent masked and white-coated figures create the menace of the scientific experimenters, the laboratory killers. In truth the obsession with blood and the assorted instruments of dismemberment and disembowelling becomes a touch unnecessary, but the crowd fits well with Michael Pavelka’s metallic set with its ingenious use of mobile screens, as well as supplying some glorious a cappella singing. The music draws on many sources...

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